Nomenclature in evaluation of analytical methods including detection and quantification capabilities (IUPAC Recommendations 1995)

This IUPAC nomenclature document has been prepared to help establish a unif orm and meaningful approach to terminology, notation, and formulation for p erformance characteristics of the chemical measurement process (CMP). Follo wing definition of the CMP and its performance characteristics, the documen t addresses fundamental quantities related to the observed response and cal ibration, and the complement to the calibration function: the evaluation fu nction. Performance characteristics related to precision and accuracy compr ise the heart of the document. These include measures for the means or "exp ected values" of the relevant chemical quantities, as well as dispersion me asures such as variance and standard error. Attention is given also to impo rtant issues involving: assumptions, internal and external quality control, estimation, error propagation and uncertainty components, and bounds for s ystematic error. Special treatment is given to terminology and concepts und erlying detection and quantification capabilities in chemical metrology, an d the significance of the blank. The document concludes with a note on the important distinction between the sampled population and the target populat ion, especially in relation to the interlaboratory environment. (C) 1995 IU PAC Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.